Morgana Macawber
Morgana Macawber is a powerful — if still in need for some improvement — sorceress of the reputable Macawber Family from Transylvania. When she settled in St. Canard, she tried her hand at the criminal life to acquire the money to pay off her student loans, but she reformed after a few encounters with Darkwing Duck. The two bonded romantically at first sight and this relationship eventually swayed Morgana to do better, going so far as expanding her social circle to include non-monsters and becoming a member of the Justice Ducks. Like any witch, she has familiars, which in her case are a spider named Archie and two bats named Eek and Squeak. Next to her research in the field of magic and presence in the villain-hero scene, Morgana has a foot in the food industry. For a time she ran Macawber Mushrooms Unlimited, a mushroom farm, and later launched her own restaurant that she dubbed The Shadow Chateau. She is voiced by Kath Soucie. Character Background Morgana's entire brood is introduced in "Monsters R Us", as well as people she refers to as Uncle, Granny and Auntie in "Fungus Amongus". Her father, Moloculo, is very protective of his daughter and dislikes that she is dating a "normal". She also has an aunt called "Aunt Nasty" and a cousin named Globby who both appear again with Moloculo in the episode "Hot Spells". Many of the Macawber Family have studied at the Eldritch Academy of Enchantment. Morgana lives at Macawber Manor. Uncle, Auntie, and Granny from "Fungus Amongus" are transformed into mushrooms at the end of their episode, never to be seen again. Morgana describes this as "another unfortunate side effect" of the pizza mushroom process, though it is unclear if she means that her relatives were turned into mushrooms, or if they were magically animated mushrooms all along, like the pizza mushrooms. One of the worst moments in Morgana's life was when she was stood up at the prom, which made her so vengeful that her father still compares any round of anger from her to that day. Personality More than a lovely woman, Morgana is a loving woman; one who has the misfortune that all that she loves hates each other. Born and raised as a monster, Morgana has an appreciation for the creepy, the crawly, the morbid, the dark, and the slimy. She is proud of her Transylvanian heritage and loves her family still living there dearly. Her family, however, is staunchly anti-normal, or at least were when Morgana still lived with them. How much of their distaste she held on her own when she left for St. Canard is unclear, but the fact is that her early social circle was monster- and demon-exclusive, that her business and monetary schemes primarily affected normals, and that she was utterly remorseless about it. Darkwing Duck was the first normal to find themselves of interest to Morgana on account of his night-favoring eccentricities that bridged the gap to her world. That her interest was returned with a naive wish of him to protect her — while all but her familiars were betraying her — and to see her embrace the kind person underneath the villainess sweetened the deal past the tipping point. With Darkwing as her anchor, Morgana stopped her felonious pursuits and began to mingle with normals, the first of them being Darkwing's team of Launchpad and Gosalyn. Launchpad had been skeptic about her in her villain days, but became trusting once she said she stopped, while Gosalyn only met her post-reformation and immediately took a liking to the magic-wielding creepy lady. Morgana herself was insecure during this period and worried about Darkwing's opinion of her and her ability to find a place for herself in his world. She snapped out of this when she met Gizmoduck, Stegmutt, and Neptunia and became a founding member of the Justice Ducks. Morgana has taken a liking to the role of hero and occasionally accompanies Darkwing. This Darkwing does not like partially because of his selfish sense of heroism and partially because of Morgana's unreliable aim, which he isn't subtle to point out. Time spent together also has caused conflict due to Darkwing being surprisingly less of a monster-like normal than a lot of others in St. Canard. Food, in particular, is a sensitive topic due to Darkwing absolutely hating monster food and not only being crude about it but also convinced everyone else hates it too. His attempts to "fix" Morgana's tastes behind her back for her to fit in may have even cost her her restaurant. Morgana's reactions range from angered enough to try to zap him and hurt enough to not know what to do, although they always make up afterward. Another point of contention is the matter of Morgana's background. Having much more experience with normals than her family, Morgana no longer fits with their worldview and considers them childish in their unwillingness to reach out. Along with Darkwing's insults to her insensitivity to her heritage, Morgana refrained from introducing her family and Darkwing's to each other until her hand was forced. As expected, Morgana had to tell both Darkwing and Moloculo off numerous times and even had to make a stand for the people of the village near Macawber Castle. It was the first day she ever backtalked her father, but the result was peace and some understanding between the two families that Morgana slowly got to improve over time. Even back in her villain days, Morgana was more of a business woman who resorted to underhanded tactics to give her business an advantage and pay off her student loans quicker than a true evil. Presumably her experiments with mushrooms accidentally created the members of the board of Macawber Mushrooms Unlimited, whom she then gave housing, a job, and familial titles. Their eventual deaths was self-defense. With Macawber Mushrooms Unlimited destroyed and Morgana simply happy she came out safely, it took a while before she tried again with The Shadow Chateau, this time aiming for a fully honest business. She was very proud of the ambiance and the menu she had put together. Appearance Morgana is a tall, white-feathered duck with a small beak, green eyes, and long black hair done up in a high pompadour. She always dresses in a form-fitting red dress with dark red skirt section. The iconic point of her dress is a tattered drape that goes from her midsection to her left pink. She wears a golden necklace as single piece of jewelry. Morgana's dress reaches down to her feet and then there's some fabric left, resulting in her feet never being visible. That is, if she has feet. Being a monster with no visible differences to normals and moving around by floating slightly above the ground, it is very well possible that Morgana has no feet. Due to occasional movement, it can be surmised she has legs until a little below the knees, but beyond that it's uncertain. Furthermore, when she slams her dress/feet, the sound produced is that of a fish's tail. Fiction Cartoon Disney Comics comics Disney Adventures comics Negaduck holds Morgana's pet mice hostage so that she will give him the power to scare people with just a look ánd transport him to a place with many happy people he can test his new ability on. Thinking quickly, Morgana agrees, promising no tricks. She gives Negaduck a blindfold to wear during the spell, which he can take off after counting to 10. Then Morgana zaps him into the middle of a house of mirrors at a funfair. Boom Studios! comics After Negaduck figured out Darkwing Duck's civilian identity and launched an assault on 537 Avian Way, Darkwing came to feel vulnerable and cut ties with everyone but Gosalyn in the belief he would be protecting them. In the night of his goodbye to Morgana, she tries to talk him out of it, arguing that the mechanical safety maintenance of the crimebots alone is not enough to protect St. Canard. When she mentions that only a hero could stop a big crook like Negaduck, Darkwing promptly leaves. His absence does not protect Morgana in any way. Taurus Bulba targets her to eliminate the presence of magic in St. Canard and has her brainwashed. For an unknown time, Morgana exists in catatonic state. After a year of Bulba's control, Launchpad takes over as CEO of the Quackwerks Corporation and finds a security file on Morgana's fate. She is found at a Starducks outlet and he has her fetched to give Darkwing a chance to get through to her. Darkwing tries to awaken her with memories and finds Archie, Eek and Squeak for her in the Quackwerks Vaults, but to no avail. An apology and a single tear dropped on Morgana's beak eventually do the trick. The happy reunion is shortlived because Launchpad and Gosalyn come in to tell Darkwing he's just been declared Public Enemy Number One due to destruction caused by several Darkwing-like figures that have appeared in St. Canard. To clear his name, Darkwing plans on dealing with the threatening behavior of the water of Audubon Bay personally. He arranges a performance on Tuesday 17:00 where he will get rid of the evil and asks Morgana to use her magic to detect who is behind it, so Darkwing can look more impressive. Morgana's attempt to read the evil only gives her a headache, so with the cameras on him Darkwing gambles the Liquidator to be behind the peculiar water. Liquidator does rise out of Audubon Bay, but only to explain he too is a victim of something far more evil. His words are cut short by the arrival of Darkwarrior Duck. While the crowd flees in panic, Morgana teleports herself and Darkwing to the safety of 537 Avian Way. As they are discussing what could be behind all the alternative Darkwings, Quiverwing Duck breaks in. Morgana uses her magic against him, but he is protected by an enchantment from Magica De Spell. Profit is still gotten from the fact that Morgana now knows Magica is involved and while Darkwing deals with Quiverwing, he realizes that an attack on his house can only have been orchestrated by Negaduck. Reading the enchantment auras, Morgana leads Darkwing and Gosmoduck to the duo's hideout in an abandoned part of the subway. Each hero picks a villain to fight: Darkwing deals with Negaduck, Gosalyn battles a werewolf Darkwing, and Morgana faces Magica. The latter's fight is over in moments when Magica uses a source absorber on Morgana and steals all her magical power. She casts a field around her opponent that once ready will drain her or her memory. As Morgana struggles, afraid to lose herself again, she realizes the field heightens her senses and she can now see what is in the bay: Paddywhack. Quiverwing Duck saves Morgana by taking the source absorber. Paddywhack, having sensed the chaos, bursts in. Gosmoduck saves everyone but Magica and Negaduck from the flooding water, but Paddywhack, who fuses with Negaduck, comes after them. Magica gets out on her own and she and Morgana team up to keep Negaduck-Paddywhack busy so Darkwing has time to fetch the tronsplitter. When Negaduck-Paddywhack stomps on Magica, she leaves Morgana to fend for herself. Morgana holds the demon in place long enough for Quiverwing to make a surprise return with all other Darkwings, who together delay Negaduck-Paddywhack until Darkwing returns. Negaduck and Paddywhack are split, but in his original form Paddywhack is still a danger. Coincidentally, Gosalyn shows herself and all Darkwings present respond with love towards her. Quiverwing hands Morgana the source absorber so she can channel the positive energy into a beam to force Paddywhack back in his box. This works and shortly after she and her friends see the alternative Darkwings off as they return to their own dimensions. Despite being crucial in defeating the supernatural threat, Darkwing refuses to tell Morgana anything about the mission he's going on to stop F.O.W.L. from bringing Duckthulhu into their reality. Instead, he has her babysit Gosalyn for him. Morgana is more than a little angry about this. She spends the early hours of the evening chatting with the magic community per crystal ball and comes across some disturbing information regarding a purple pawn and the summoning of Duckthulhu. Putting one and one together, she makes her way to the Quackwerks building to see Launchpad. Their experiences with Darkwing before he left don't add up, so they join forces. They search shortly for him, then visit the because if Duckthulhu is truly rising, the simple-minded people will be the first to mutate under his influence. It only takes one glimpse inside to see that is true and the two leave so Morgana can use her magic to detect a way to Duckthulhu. Unfortunately, his powers are growing stronger by the minute and Launchpad mutates too. Thinking on her feet, Morgana alters her own shape to look mutated so she doesn't stand out among the crowd and will be led to Duckthulhu by the others. The trail leads to F.O.W.L. Headquarters and Morgana finally realizes Darkwing has been keeping information about his nightly round from her. She drops her disguise and enters the base, where she finds that Gosalyn has escaped her watch. She and Honker are heroing around on their own as Quiverwing Quack and Arrow Kid, and are held by Femme Appeal who herself is about to get pummeled by Ammonia Pine. Morgana turns Ammonia into a puddle of mud and prepares to unleash something similar on Appeal, whom she mistakes for the one that got Darkwing involved. Appeal rants down on Morgana that she's actually a double agent trying to stop F.O.W.L. and that Darkwing's need to be a hero may have doomed them all. Morgana believes her, moreso when Appeal offers her a scroll that can be used against Duckthulhu. The four of them rush over to the jetpack storage to get to the summon chamber faster, but are too late to stop Duckthulhu's awakening. Appeal, Darkwing, and the children team up to keep Duckthulhu's followers at bay while Morgana activates the scroll. The artifact allows the sorceress to create a new reality of her choosing to confront Duckthulhu in. She picks a sitcom reality in which she, Darkwing, Gosalyn, and Launchpad form a family that have to decide on a business offer from Duckthulhu during a dinner at their home. Their love keeps the demon at bay for a little while, but ultimately Morgana is forced to sacrifice herself to send him back to the void. As Duckthulhu disappears, so does she. The next few days, Launchpad takes Darkwing along to over 40 seers in hopes one of them can find Morgana or say what happened to her. All of them are disappointments. Nonetheless, he is forced back in action when One-Shot attacks the mayor. Through fighting him and being reminded of Morgana's last words by Launchpad and Gosalyn, Darkwing returns to his old self and even decides to become a mayoral candidate so he can protect St. Canard better. His attempts to become mayor in her honor are made difficult by the mud-slinging of Constance Dention and the candidacy of Launchpad, but he isn't that easily discouraged from his plans for a safer St. Canard. Nonetheless, Launchpad wins the election. Darkwing accepts this wearily, figuring they can still use the mayor's resources to improve the search for Morgana. :Note: The information in the next paragraph is non-canon. In the end, Morgana is found purely by coincidence during the ink crisis. It turns out she was transported to the wasteland, just like Negaduck was after being hit by the tronsplitter. They looked for an escape together and found it possible if they would be invited by someone from their home dimension and only on the condition they'd both be saved. When a portal is opened to their dimension, Negaduck finds Darkwing because he knows he'll save Morgana regardless if it also means freeing his biggest enemy. Morgana is ahead of him, though. Without knowing it, Negaduck is walking around with a spell on him that activates if he's confronted with the truth. The spell will send him back to the wasteland. Morgana and Darkwing use this against him when he takes control of the ink and fuses with the other villains present, causing all of them to be shut away. :Non-canon information ends here. Joe Books comics A conversation about Gosalyn needing a female role model prompts Binkie to ask Drake about Morgana. He quickly changes the topic. Notes * The spelling of Morgana's last name has long been subject of controversy because there is no 1990s prose fiction that uses it. People variously interpret it as "Macawber", "McCawber", and "MacCawber". The spelling used for the unproduced Playmates toy is "MacCawber", but the pronunciation in the cartoon is more often "mah-cawber" than "meahk-cawber". Tad Stones has mentioned that the name was not consistent across teamsFlapping Terror's Exclusive Tad Stones Interview and that he always thought it to be "Macawber".Darkwing Duck All-Night Marathon at The Negaverse Not surprisingly then, that's the way the name is spelled in the show bible. Furthermore, "Mac" would make her of Irish or Scottish descent, which would be odd given her Transylvanian heritage. Then again, her first name is a reference to the legendary British sorceress and there aren't any obvious macaws, which are birds native to the Americas, in the Macawber family either. Lastly, the Boom! Studios comics use both "McCawber" ("Crisis on Infinite Darkwings") and "Macawber" ("F.O.W.L. Disposition"). * Morgana's design is a homage to the women of classic horror. Her hair is inspired by the haircut of the Bride of Frankenstein as she appears in the 1935 movie (which itself is based on the Nefertiti Bust). Her perpetually hidden feet, if she has any, are based on the look of Morticia Addams from The Addams Family. Her post-reformation temperament and role as mediator between her father and Darkwing mimics Lily Munster from The Munsters. * In superhero terms, Morgana combines Doctor Fate, Doctor Strange and Clea. * Morgana was created for the first set of episodes as a magic-using villain. Her relationship with Darkwing came about as the script for "Fungus Amongus" developed.INTERVIEW WITH TAD STONES – Darkwing Duck at Total Media Bridge * Despite both being part of the protagonist team, there is not a single piece of 1990s fiction to feature both Morgana Macawber and Honker Muddlefoot, with "Malice's Restaurant" being a particularly wasted opportunity. The first fiction to allow them any sort of interaction is 2011's "F.O.W.L. Disposition". 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